"A Man Lay Dead"

"A Man Lay Dead" is Ngaio Marsh's first book in the Roderick Alleyn novel series.  Some of her books have been made into two hour shows in Britain and my spouse and I have watched most of them.  Earlier this year he set out to read her Alleyn novels in order and I decided to do the same.  The TV adaptations of her books do not display the depth of her stories nor do them justice in a condensed form because she has such a beautiful way of describing people, places, and events that does not come through in a film.  In addition, I love her sense of humor!

In this.tale Sir Hubert Handesley is hosting one of his infamous weekend parties at his country estate but this time he has something new up his sleeve.  He has decided it will be a murder mystery weekend and one of his guests will be informed by one of the staff that they are the murderer and they are to choose their victim.  When the lights go out and the gong sounds, the rest of the party are to set about solving the murder.  There is only one hitch - a real murder.

Nigel Bathgate has been invited for the first time to one of these weekends by his cousin, Charles Rankin, and becomes a prime suspect when it is his cousin who is murdered and he stands to inherit his cousin's fortune.  However, he's not the only one who stands to benefit from his cousin's death plus Charles was a bit of a ladies man so that and a Russian mob tie widens the field of suspects.

Inspector Alleyn arrives from Scotland Yard to take charge of the investigation and he has his work cut out for him.  This is a great mystery that will keep you guessing to the very end!  pazt